Process of manufacturing wire-link mesh.



n. G WIRE L 1913. RENEWED INK MESH. 1

MAR. 3. |916.

Patented June 13, 1916.

3 `SHEETS-SHEET l.

E. W. SMIT PROCESS 0F MANUFACTURIN APPLICTION FILED OCT. 2T-

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Patented'lune 13 1 16.

3 SHEETS-SH 4 I IIII Il `E. w. SMITH. v PROCESS 0F MANUFACTURING WIRE LINK MESH. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 21, ISIS. RENEWED MAR. 8.1916.

1,1 86,854. mmm... 13, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

tHE COLUMBIA PLANDURAPH co., WASHINGTON. D. c.

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RRNRsT WALKER SMITH, or HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

IRocnss or MANUFACTURING WIRE-LINKMRSH.

Application filed October 27, 1913, SerialrNo. 797,564. Renewed March 8, 1916. Serial No. 82,917.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ERNEST WALKER SMITH, a citizen of the United States, re-

siding at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invent-. ed a new `and useful Improvement in Proc-k esses of Manufacturing Tire-Link Mesh,

of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a method' of manufacturing link-mesh, that is, manufacturing a fabric which is formed of interlocked wire rings or links.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple method, whereby mesh of rings or links of any size, shape and material can bev facturing mesh of Closed round .rings or links of any other desired shape, and opened links or staples which are formed into closed rings or links after they have been passed through the originally closed links for lock- Y ing them together.

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Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings shows a sectional view of parts of a machine designed to manipulate rings and staples and form a mesh fabric according to this method. In this view the parts are Ain the positions occupied when a rowof rings has been fed over a row of staples and the sta-V ples are about to be fed up through the rings. Figs. 2 and v3 illustrate the relations of the rows of rings and staples when the parts are in the positions seen in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a section similar to that shown in Fig. 1, with` the parts in the positions occupied when the row of staples has been fed up through the row of rings. Fig. 5 shows the relative positions of the rings and staples when the parts are in the positions illustrated in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a similar section of the machine parts with the staples and the rings through which the staples are passed, lowered and another row of rings about to be advanced over the staples. Fig. 7 illustrates the relations of the rings and staples in Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a similar section of the machine parts in the positions occupied after the following row'of rings has been advanced and the staples already through one row of rings are raised so that l their free endsare through the following row of rings, and a punch has descended for closing the free ends of the staples so as to y lock the two rows ofrings together. Fig.

9 shows a view of the rings and closed lstaples in the relations shown yin Fig. 8. Fig.

10 shows a simple form of apparatus ,which-V may be vmanipulated by mechanism or by Yhand for putting together rows of rings ac- Cording to this method. VIn this view the originally closed rings and originally opened locking rings are round, and one of the locking rings is shown with its ends sep- Yarated in order to illustrate its condition when it is engaged with the closed rings for locking them together. Fig. 11 illustrates the mesh formed by this process. In this specification of Letters Patent. Patentedgune 13,1916,

so' Y' figure the ring holding formers shown in Fig. 10, and some Vof vthe rings are cut in section. Fig. 12 shows an edge view of a piece of the mesh, with some of the rings and the formers shown in Figs. 10 and 11 cut in section to illustrate the manner in which the rings go together. Y

InFigs. 1, 4, 6, and 8, sections are shown of the ring and staple manipulating parts of the automatic machine for forming wire link mesh, which is illustrated, described and claimedin the 'application'of Joseph Merritt and William A. Sawyer, Serial No. 706,394, filed June 28, 1912.V The actuating mechanisms for these parts are not shown in this application, for the reason that they are Vnot essential to the practice fof the method and form no part 0f the invention herein claimed. In manufacturing wire link mesh of rings and staples with the machine referred to, the rings 1 are arranged one above another in the vertical channels 2 of a ring magazine 3, and the staples 4 are arranged in horizontal rows side by side on rods 5 in the grooves 6 of a staple magazine 7. VIn practising this method with such 'a machine the mechanisms are so arranged that a row of rings is pushed forwardl from the bottom of the ring magazine by a ring pusher 8' and advanced until they engage a stop 9 above the staples, as shown in Fig. l.

A row of staplesiscut off fromY the staple magazine by a pusher 10 and carmaUazine as shown in Fi 4. The rings Y 2:! 5 b and staples are then in the relations shown `in Fig. 5. The staples, and the rings that the free ends of the staples have been passed through, are lowered, as shown in Fig. 6,

and another row of rings s pushed forward iioV over the staples so that the rings and staples occupy the relations shown in Fig. 7 The staples with the first-mentioned rings are then raised and the free ends of thestaples passed through the second-mentioned row of rings, and after this has taken place, a

punch 11 is brought down so as to cause the free ends of the staples to be closed together and form rings which lock both of the previously formedrows of rings together. rlhis method of manipulation is repeated, and a continuous fabric oflinkmesh produced. The width of the fabric will of course depend upon the number of rows of rings and staples that are fed from the magazines, and it will be noted that each staple passes through four rings before 'it is closed-two rings the irst time the staple comes up and two rings the second time the staple comes up. Where the process is carried out by Ysuch a machine as has' been referred to, the mesh is produced very rapidly and accurately. This method vcan be carried outk by simpler apparatus. The closed rings may be arranged in rows Vtogether at the other end by plates 13. The

closed rings are fed into these magazine frames by any convenient means. A row of opened rings 1-1 may be engaged with a row of closed rings 15, and then la row of closed rings 16 may be carried over the closed rings j 15, and the vopen rings 14 engaged with these, after which the ends ofthe opened rings are closed by any suitable mechanism. `Of course the row of rings 15 and the row of rings 16 maybel iirstbrought over each other as shown in Fig. 10, and then the opened rings engage with them so that each open ring locks together four closed rings in order to form the mesh.

The invention claimed is:

1.`The method of forming link-mesh fabric, which consists in feeding a row of closed links onto the ends of a row of opened links, then feeding a succeeding row yof closed links onto the ends of the said row of-opened links, then 'closing together the ends of said opened links, then feeding the said succeeding row of closed links onto the Y ends of'a succeeding row of opened links,

Copies of this patentV may be obtained for five cents each,'by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

then feeding a following .row of closed links onto' the ends of said succeeding row of opened links, then closing together the rends of said succeeding row of opened links, and

-connecting the adjacent closed links, feeding in a row an equal number of closed links, passing the ends of the opened links through the succeeding row of closed links so as to connect together the adjacent links of said succeeding row and join them with the adjacent links of the advance row, then closing the ends of the opened links, and repeating the steps.

rlhe method' of forming link-mesh, which consists in advancing a row of closed links to a row of opened' links, passing the ends of the opened links through the closed links, advancing anotherrow of closed links and passing the ends of the opened links through said following' row, and nally closing the ends of the opened links.

4. The method of forming link-mesh, which consists in feeding together a row of closed links and a row of opened links, then links, then feeding the opened links with the first row of closed links until thefree ends of the opened links pass through the second row of closed links, and lfinally closing together the ends of the opened links, whereby each opened link then becomes aclosed link and fastens together four of the other links.

EnNnsT- WALKER i sMrTn.

Witnesses:

HARRY R. VILLIAMS, JosErHrNn M. STREMPFER.

Washingtomk). 0. 

